How can you escape from paying the ridiculous aeroplane fees for the boards?They ask 200$ for my board from USA to Europe and they put it in medium windsurfing equipment eventough its 136 cm and less than that windsurfing crap.I am pissed off,any suggestions ?

I think it's a bit of a crap shoot as to whether they charge you for certain bags or not. Some counter people seem to care more than others about charging extra for large/oversize or surfboard-y shaped bags.

When I flew to La Ventana in November, my flights were from SFO to LA and then on to La Paz. The flight from SFO to LA was on American and from LA to La Paz was with Horizon.

When I checked my bags with American in SFO, I was with a buddy and we had two personal/clothing bags and two kiting bags. One was a golf bag and the other a Mystic two-board twin-tip bag. When we walked up to the counter, the woman looked at our kite bags and said "What do we have here, some surf boards?"

As I put my golf bag on the scale, I replied "This one says 'Pro Golf' on it." No un-truth there, right? Plus, I did put a 9-Iron inside, just in case anyone wanted to check!

"OK, no problem and that one?" (pointing to the twin-tip bag)"That one has some parachutes inside." I said. Heck, kites look (and act) pretty much like parachutes, right? And since there isn't a 'board' component to parachuting, I figured it was a safe thing to say, given their tendency to charge for anything 'boardy'."OK, great." she said.

She didn't charge us for ANY of our bags as she said "the computer doesn't seem to think I need to collect anything for your bags since your connecting flight is with Horizon." I didn't argue!

I think it really shows it's a bit about luck, who you're dealing with and how you 'phrase' things...

Probably close to 30 trips (international as well) without paying so far. If asked, its golf gear.

Its a big bagpack. no rolls, no extra weight. A pain in the butt on the back, but so much better then hauling those huge pseudo golf bags around.fits 2 twintips, and 2-3 kites depending if you put harness and wet suite in as well.Fits on the back seat of a small rental. Very close call, but always worked so far (to the surprise of the rental guy, who always tries to tell me I have to upgrade my car for that sucker)

I seriously love that thing! I am on my second one, since I wore one out after 3 years or so

ian89 wrote:How can you escape from paying the ridiculous aeroplane fees for the boards?They ask 200$ for my board from USA to Europe and they put it in medium windsurfing equipment eventough its 136 cm and less than that windsurfing crap.I am pissed off,any suggestions ?

The "Golf" kite board bags work sometimes and sometimes not. Luck is needed too (depending on agents mood, airline constantly changing policy etc.) you just never know. Always be prepared to pay something, and if you dont - you lucked out.